I don’t like the behavior of the new tab page in Google Chrome 29+. How can I restore the old behavior?

The new tab page (if you have Google set as the default search engine) now shows the Google logo (or, apparently, the doodle of the day if there is one), a search box, and a few recently visited websites. It also added an Apps button to my favorites bar, seemingly the only way to access my apps page, which has easy access to things I use regularly (Calendar, Gmail, Docs, G+, Facebook, Feedly, Google News, Netflix, Play Music, Pandora, Drive, Keep, etc.) I don’t like this behavior. I actually don’t mind having the logo of the day and search box, but I want my apps linked to on my new tab page.

Is there any way to get the old behavior back? I checked the settings and it doesn’t seem like it’s possible to set chrome://apps to be the new tab page (which would restore the old behavior) or to configure the new new tab page to display apps instead of recently visited sites.

Interesting, I'm on the same build as you and I don't have the New™ New Tab Page. Can you try if this extension will do the job?
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Sathya♦Sep 25 '13 at 13:06

@Sathya What OS are you on? My home desktop is Win7 and I've noticed the newer tab page there. My work computer I'm currently posting from is Windows XP. I'm on the latest build, but my tab page is also still the same as it was.
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DanteTheEgregoreSep 25 '13 at 13:10

1

@Zach I have Windows 7 at my workplace & Windows 8 on my home system, both don't have the New™ New Tab Page.
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Sathya♦Sep 25 '13 at 13:11

On a side-note, there's a new button on your favorite bar named "applications" which, if middle-button clicked, will mimic previous behaviour.
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KwaioSep 25 '13 at 13:48

1

@Kwaio That's an unacceptable alternative, IMO. It requires a mouse click, while Ctrl+T can open a new tab. It also adds an extra thing to my favorites bar to work around removed features. Zach's answer is really the best option.
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Thomas OwensSep 25 '13 at 14:06

9 Answers
9

Please note: This solution no longer works as many of the features mentioned have been removed by the Chrome developers. It will be kept for posterity, but is no longer guaranteed to work as intended.

Update January 29, 2014: As of Google Chrome stable Version 32.0.1700.102 mthis flag still appears to exist. chrome-internal://newtab does not appear to exist. chrome://apps still exists.

Update Feburary 21, 2014 As of Google Chrome stable Version 33.0.1750.117 mthis flag appears to no longer exist. chrome://apps appears to still work. chrome://newtab directs users to the new newtab page.

To disable this feature, go to:

chrome://flags/

And hit Ctrl+F. Search for "Enable Instant Extended API". Click disabled in the dropdown below it, then click relaunch now. This should disable the new tab page. Change the flag to enabled if you'd like to re-enable it at any time.

The side effect of using this or the New Tab Redirect extension is that it leaves chrome://apps in the OmniBox so you have to erase it before typing a new URL, that's a major speedbump. The fastest way to clear omnibox is to highlight it by hitting Ctrl+L but that's still an extra keystroke that's NOT in my muscle memory :(
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Dmitry PashkevichJan 18 '14 at 21:49

1

@DmitryPashkevich this is unfortunately true; you can alternatively use F6 if it helps you get used to it faster, which you might need to since Chrome removed the flag ;)
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drzausFeb 24 '14 at 18:30

+1 I'm on chrome Version 33.0.1750.117. I had that Enable Instant Extended API disabled earlier. But one fine day, it automatically disappeared from my chrome://flags page! Crazy right? So yes, this helped me! Thanks. It's a shame that this cannot be configured via chrome settings.
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Nikhil PatilFeb 27 '14 at 6:37

This is annoying the hell out of me as well - after some tinkering and reading the docs on Google. I've found a solution - one that Google might not like either..

Namely:

Your default search provider has the option to customise the New Tab page. If Google is your default search provider, you'll see a logo and search box like on www.google.com. If your default search provider isn't Google, you may see a different layout on the New Tab page.

Open "Settings".

Scroll down to "Search".

Under "Set which search engine is used when searching from the omnibox." select "Bing".

Open a new tab and enjoy the lack of Google.

NOTE: If you find you're not getting some results - you can make Google quickly accessible by adding a shortcut to Google via:

Open "Settings".

Scroll down to "Search".

Click "Manage search engines"

Under "Other search engines"..

Scroll to the bottom to where you can add a new entry.

Search Engine:Google

Keyword:go- it didn't seem to like 'g' on mine, but try

URL:https://www.google.com/#q=%s

Open a new tab - type "go" (hit delete if autocomplete kicks in) and type your search query. Hit enter and you're good to go.

Enjoy!

PS: This has been tested and confirmed good on version 32.0.1700.76.

UPDATE - 4th March 2014

I'm now running Chrome 33.0.1750.117, with my default search engine back to Google - and all is well, normal behaviour has resumed. However, I've heard others still have it.. I can only guess that if the above doesn't work - you've falling into some Google A/B test. :(

Sadly this no longer seems to help in v33.whatever -- even with Bing it's the useless newtabpage, just without a logo. I even made a simple JS page redirecting back to google as an interstitial helper (just so I keep the "benefits" of using Google as my default), no dice.
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drzausFeb 24 '14 at 18:48

Interesting. I am running 33.0.1750.117 and my default search is back to Google - and I'm no longer getting the annoying issue.. I just figured they had listened to feedback and sorted it out.
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Rob CooperMar 4 '14 at 11:55

"Broken" using 33.0.1750.146 m. Using anything other than google as the default search just shows the 8 'top sites' only. This is starting to remind me of the Internet Explorer anti-trust days...
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drzausMar 4 '14 at 21:00

There is a simple way to do it without any extensions or hidden APIs. It should work for all OSes too. For all known versions of Chrome and Chromium and derivatives. At the time of writing, version is 38.

Start Chrome

This step is not really needed, but a precaution: If you have sync set up between multiple PCs, pause it temporarily or just turn off Internet connection.

Close all tabs. Open new tab and use X buttons to remove all thumbnails you don't want. (You can remove all, or leave some).

Close Chrome immediately.

Go to the place where Chrome keeps its settings. On Linux, it is ~/.config/google-chrome/Default, on other OSes look here. In a folder Default find files called Top Sites and Top Sites-journal. Make them read-only. May be you can simply delete the second.

Enjoy your new peek-free Chrome. It can still sometimes create thumbnails for sites you just visited, but will immediately forget them after closing.

Unlike the extensions, this actually makes Chrome to forget your favorite sites. All other methods can introduce privacy leak: You bring your PC somewhere, connect it to Internet, and Chrome tries to access your favorite sites. Than local network admin will know what sites you frequent.